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OTTAWA—The RCMP has asked for and received documents on Senate expense policies in relation to the scandal touching on senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau, Senate speaker Noel Kinsella said Thursday.

It’s the first indication that the RCMP is digging into the affair that has emerged as a major thorn in the side of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Earlier, Liberals renewed demands for Harper to open up on all details of the $90,000 secret payment from his former chief of staff Nigel Wright to Sen. Mike Duffy.

“Crocodile tears from Peru will not do,” Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale said Thursday in a reference to Harper’s expression of regret about the Duffy scandal during a visit to Lima the day before.

Goodale told the media Harper’s statement that he knew nothing at the time about Wright’s decision to provide $90,000 to Duffy “does strain one’s belief.”

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Liberal Senate leader James Cowan added of Harper: “Is he only sorry because he got caught?”

The Liberals want Harper to make public any emails, written agreements or other documents arising from Wright’s payment to Duffy. They also want the Senate committee that is re-examining Duffy’s expenses to open their hearings to the public so Canadians can hear the details of the controversy from Duffy and others.

After Wright provided Duffy with $90,000, the former Conservative senator repaid his questionable expenses and refused to co-operate with an audit of his expense filings. Conservatives on the Senate internal economy committee later used their majority to whitewash a final report on Duffy’s expense claims.

The Liberals released a list of questions the Conservatives need to answer to clear up the affair, including:

Who ordered the members of the Senate committee to whitewash the Duffy report and why did a majority of senators on the committee agree to co-operate in the coverup?

Was there a deal between the Prime Minister’s Office and Duffy that would require the senator to stay quiet about the whole affair in exchange for the $90,000?

Will the Conservatives in the Senate allow committee hearings into the Duffy-Wright payment to be held in public?

How could Harper continue to say he had the utmost confidence in Wright for nearly a week when he was allegedly kept in the dark about this serious undertaking by his chief of staff?

Harper said Wednesday that Wright was “solely responsible” for the decision to provide $90,000 to Duffy. Wright resigned his position on Sunday. Duffy has said he looks forward to an opportunity to explain his part in the affair.

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